A Gambino hit man known for dissolving victims’ bodies in vats of acid was convicted of four gangland slayings yesterday – a verdict that marks the end of an era for a ruthless breed of enforcers who served under the late “Dapper Don” John Gotti.
Charles Carneglia, 62, sat stone-faced as the jurors delivered a split decision after nearly four days of deliberations. They found him guilty of more than a dozen racketeering crimes, but failed to come to a decision on whether he murdered a court officer in 1976.
The twin daughters of one victim, an armored-car driver killed at Kennedy Airport on Dec. 14, 1990, wept tears of relief as Carneglia was convicted of gunning down their father.
“They have put an animal away. This is one of the happiest days of our lives,” said Mildred Delgado-Jimenez, a daughter of murdered guard José Delgado Rivera.
Known as “Crazy Charles,” Carneglia was also convicted of carrying out a hit on wiseguy Louis DiBono, who refused to attend a meeting called by Gotti in October 1990.
Carneglia was also convicted of stabbing to death mob underlings Michael Cotillo, 25, and Salvatore Puma, 18.
But the jurors were “undecided” in the murder of Brooklyn Court Officer Albert Gelb in 1976, and cleared Carneglia on a related conspiracy charge.
Gelb, 25, who had arrested the Gambino hit man for gun possession at a Howard Beach diner, was just days away from testifying against the wiseguy when he was shot dead in his car as he arrived home from work. That was the only murder in which prosecutors did not have a witness putting Carneglia at the scene of the crime.
“We’re somewhat disappointed . . . Indirectly we got what we wanted. We got him caged,” said Dennis Quirk, head of the court officers union. “The jurors were tired. They wanted to go home and somebody was holding out.”
Even so, the jury’s verdict against Carneglia put away “one of the most notorious” and “most prolific” Gambino hit men, according to former FBI supervisor Bruce Mouw, who was involved in the investigation that brought down Gotti.
“There aren’t many guys left in the family with those credentials,” Mouw said of Carneglia. “They don’t do hits like they used to.”
In one of his more gruesome tasks, Carneglia used barrels of acid to dissolve the body of the motorist who accidentally struck and killed Gotti’s 12-year-old son in 1980, according to prosecutors.
Carneglia was not charged in that murder, but a witness testified about Carneglia’s aptitude for body disposal and his morbid ritual of hanging victims’ jewelry from the rafters of a barn.
Defense lawyers had argued that Carneglia was an unreliable drunk who couldn’t handle real mob responsibilities and retired from his life of crime several years ago, growing a bushy beard in defiance of mob etiquette.
Prosecutors built their case based on the testimony of more than a half-dozen mob turncoats, including former Gambino associate John Alite, who made his courtroom debut at Carneglia’s trial.
The verdict spells trouble for mob scion John “Junior” Gotti, who was Alite’s longtime best friend and is set to go on trial in three slayings and on other charges later this year.